Watch the Rugby Championship, live on Sky Sports, starting on Saturday, August 10 with Australia vs South Africa from 5.30am, followed by New Zealand vs Argentina from 7.55am - both on Sky Sports Action
Thursday 8 August 2024 12:35, UK
A new rule around red cards is set to be trialled this weekend as the Rugby Championship gets under way, with some sweeping changes made by the competition's governing body.
All of the action will be live on Sky Sports as Australia host world champions South Africa at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, before New Zealand play Argentina in Wellington – with both games early on Saturday morning (starting from 5.30am).
The governing body for the southern hemisphere championship, SANZAAR, has announced a number of law changes with the aim of speeding up the game and offering more flexibility to determine the severity of punishment around different types of red-card decisions.
Certain offences will see a player sent to the sin-bin for 20 minutes, before his team can then field a replacement off the bench when the punishment has been completed. For more severe offences, though, determined to be deliberate and with a high level of danger to the opponent, then the team will continue to be reduced by a player for the remainder of the contest.
There will also be changes around when players kick for the posts, with a third of the time taken off the clock for kickers to set themselves before making an attempt on goal. They will have 60 seconds, instead of the previous 90, for penalties and conversions.
There are also changes around scrums and lineouts for the forwards, with the same intention of making play flow more quickly. Scrums must be set within 30 seconds of the referee making the mark, with free-kick punishments to be dished out if either team causes a delay.
Likewise, teams will have just 30 seconds to assemble for a lineout or, again, a free-kick will be awarded to the opposition. In addition to that, throws which are not straight will not be punished if the opposition does not contest the lineout.
The final change concerns the scrum-half, who cannot be tackled within a metre of the base of the scrum or when clearing the ball from a ruck or maul or scrum, ensuring they have more space and protection.
A SANZAAR statement said: "The Rugby Championship is the flagship of the sport in the southern hemisphere and annually we see the best players in the world battle it out for the title.
"We believe this year's championship, that has been keenly anticipated by the players and rugby fans, will again exhibit the best of what the game has to offer with exciting, tough action on the field, enhanced by the evolution in the laws of the game."
Powerful prop Taniela Tupou will be a key absentee for Australia against the Springboks, with the Tonga-born forward set to miss the game following the death of his father. Experienced winger Marika Koroibete has also been left out of Joe Schmidt's squad.
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has interestingly benched veteran fly-half Handre Pollard in favour of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for the tournament opener, but has a settled side for the most part and the Springboks are favourites to win the competition.
For New Zealand, who have won seven of the last eight tournaments, the big shock is that Rieko Ioane has been dropped by coach Scott Robertson from the All Blacks XV to face Argentina, while exciting outside back Will Jordan returns to the bench.
Captain Scott Barrett and Patrick Tuipulotu are also out injured so Tupou Vaa'i and Sam Darry come into the side, which is captained by World Rugby Player of the Year Ardie Savea.
"We've laid a solid foundation through the first three Tests of the year and prepared well this week for what will be a physical Test against Argentina," Savea said.
